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Thursday, April 30, 2009

While we have massive storms and downpours in Tennessee, I hope everyone is looking forward to a good weekend full of playoff hockey and anything else interesting and fun.

Last night's second round opener was a real surprise. After Vancouver dominated Chicago for two periods it was really looking like a short series. I was looking at comments on Twitter as the second period wound down and folks were dropping like flies heading for videos, the X-box and anything else looking like it might have more life to it than the Hawks.

The Hawks did come back and serve notice to the Canucks that they had every intention of being competitive and fought back to a 3-3 tie with five minutes left and were clearly out skating the Nooks. With 1:13 left Sami Salo save the day for the collapsing Canucks and pulled it out for the home team.

In spite of the loss, Chicago proved that they would be competitive and would not go quietly. I am going to have to reconsider my Canucks in six pick as this one may indeed go seven and I would say it's a toss up at this point as to who will win.

Tonight's games have a couple of great match ups with Anaheim at Detroit and Carolina going to Boston. As usual, I will be more focused on the Western conference match-up since they run fairly concurrently. I simply don't understand why they can't stagger two games more than 30 minutes.

"Squish Em"! Interesting from NHL.com Comedic look at Southern hockey. Don't read this if you aren't a bit thick skinned.

Other news around the NHL

In all the pick news yesterday, I omitted friend Sarah Connors in Boston at For Puck's Sake.

The Jack Adam's Trophy finalists were announced and include Todd McLellan, Andy Murray, and Claude Julien.

The NHL Tweetups are still going strong in other cities under the fine leadership of @dani2boyz. Site maker @goaliegirl has made a cool calendar at her NHL Tweetup site. The first one here was a lot of fun. Anyone else think we need to do it again in Nashville before the playoffs are over?

Interesting Pop Quiz from Puck Daddy on the Bruins-Hurricanes match-up.

XM Fantasy Guru, Canadian Rocker and Juno Games star Rob Higgins has joined the Twitterverse as @Higgy2112. Give him an add.

Pansification in hockey? I thought it was pantification. Same principle I guess.

Off Topic Stuff...

Completely off topic but this is a must read for anyone who appreciated the writing of Gonzo journalist Hunter S Thompson. I read it at least one annually on Derby weekend to get in the true spirit of the event that anyone who has been can relate to.

Steve Sullivan is one of the final three for the Masterton Trophy as all Predator fans expected. Chris Chelios (due to his longevity) and Richard Zednik (for recovery from getting hid neck sliced) are the other finalists.

The basis for the award is for "a high degree the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey". Best I can tell, that defines Sully's love of the game and all the hard work over a two year period to be able to return to the game an play at a point per game level once he got back in his grove.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Here is my 499 word piece for the Columbia Daily Herald, the hockey source for Southern Middle Tennessee that includes my picks for the second round.--------------------------------------------------

The first round of the NHL playoffs has ended, sorting out the Stanley Cup pretenders from the actual contenders. An argument could be made for each of the remaining eight teams being able to proceed to the final round.

As you move deeper into the playoffs, goaltending becomes more important as will be the case in each of the four second round series.

Play kicks off Thursday night when the Chicago Blackhawks travel to Vancouver to play the Canucks. These two teams do not like each other as evidenced by the all out brawl that erupted in their last regular season game.

Vancouver’s goalie, Roberto Luongo, appears well rested after being out with an injury mid-season. At the other end of the ice, Hawks goalie, Nikolai Khabibulin, has not played well against the Canucks having a 6-16-2 lifetime record.

Both teams have plenty of offensive weapons and solid defenses, but I am going with Vancouver in seven games with Luongo and Alexander Burrows leading the way.

Detroit and Anaheim is a match of long-time Western Conference rivals. Both teams have top defenses and plenty of offensive power.

The goaltender match-up between Jonas Hiller and Chris Osgood will be interesting. Hiller has only played a portion of one game in his career against the Wings, but was unshaken against the Sharks despite of a lack of experience.

Chris Osgood, while not having his best year during the regular season, was a rock in goal in the first round against Columbus.

While it will be a tough series, I feel the Wings will take the Ducks in five games as the defending cup champions seem to be hitting their stride at the perfect time.

In the East, Boston appears to be the solid choice “on paper” over Carolina and I will be surprised if the Hurricanes go deep into this series. The Bruin’s Tim Thomas will probably win the Vezina Trophy (best goaltender) and will lead the team to win in a six game series.

Finally, the league’s dream match-up is the Pittsburgh Penguins playing the Washington Capitals. This will feature two of the three nominees for the NHL Hart Trophy (MVP); Washington’s Alexander Ovechkin and the Penguin’s Evgeni Malkin. Throw in media darling Sidney Crosby and Alexander Semin and Mike Green and the series is loaded with all-stars.

I’ve never been sold on Pens Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury but he certainly has more experience than rookie Simeon Varlamov who has played more post-season games than regular season after playing the last six games against the Rangers.

In this series, I am going against conventional wisdom and picking the Capitols firepower to out play the Penguins in a long, hard fought, seven game series. The media presence in this series will be equal to that of a final match up and it will probably be an advantage that Varlamov speaks little English.

I’ll be back with a look at the semifinal round in a couple of weeks.----------------------------------------------------------

Those of you in the twtPool, don't forget to make your picks. We don't need excuses for forgetting.

Totally off topic...

A friend, Dennis Chamberland, who works for NASA has the most reasonable, factual, explanation of the swine flu threat at his web site. If you want facts and not hype and media scare tactics, Dennis is a good read. While off the topic, Dennis also is creating an undersea colony and was in charge of the Scott Carpenter missions in the past. He also was in charge of all live animal experiments on the space shuttle, so when he speaks, you should listen.

Our friend, Mark Manning from Tampa who has appeared on POTG radio sends his picks; Ducks in 7, Hawks in 6, Pitts in 7, and Boston in 7.

Jackson made his picks for the Red Light District. He went with Boston in 6, Pittsburgh in 7, Anaheim in 7, and Vancouver in 7. I hope all the series do go that deep. We don't need any more nights last night without hockey.

Brandon Felder had the best picks I saw in the first round except for drinking the Blue (Jacket) Kool-aid. Here are his for the second round.

What an exciting night of hockey! The final two series came to an end with dramatic finishes in less than an hours time.

The most anticipated final of the two was the Rangers and Capitals show down in DC after six games had features a major comeback by the Caps and enough bad blood to keep both teams on edge throughout.

The stage was set from the beginning when fans behind the Rangers bench showed up wearing panchoes in case John Tortorella decided to spray water again. For two periods it appeared that the Rangers were the better team and that the Caps were trying to hang with them. The Caps were out shot 8-2 in the first period and neither team scored in the second.

The third period was a different story. The Caps applied pressure and the defense stiffened as the Caps only allowed one Ranger shot while firing 13 themselves. Finally, with five minutes left in the game Sergei Fedorov threaded the needle and got a shot past Henrik Lunqvist for the game winning goal. After a frenetic five minutes by the Rangers the Caps were able to breath and head for the center ice handshakes.

The game between the Devils and Canes produced one of the more incredible regulation finishes in recent NHL history. With time winding down and the Devils seemingly in control, Jussi Jokinen scored with 1:20 left on the clock to tie the game. As we sat on the couch preparing for overtime, we were shocked to see Eric Staal score 48 seconds later to produce one of the more dramatic finishes that you could imagine. The crowd at the Rock were absolutely stunned to go from preparations for celebration to being totally devastated in less than a couple of minutes.

So, the first round is in the books and the second round starts Thursday night in Vancouver where we have potential for a bitter series between the Nooks and Hawks. NBC got their dream match up between the Caps and Pens a round earlier than desired but will still be frothing at the mouth over all the hype. Detroit and Anaheim starts Friday night and should be a lot of fun. The series between Boston and Carolina is the oddball of the bunch in that one team, on paper, appears to clearly be better than the other. At this time of year, that doesn't always matter.

I was 7-1 in my first round picks missing on SJ and Jackson was 6-2 missing on SJ and NY. Jackson looked like a genius on the Rangers up through game four, but fell victim to the Caps great comeback. We will have our second round picks and predictions on Thursday.

In Predators news...

In Tuesday's action at the World Championships, Shea Weber had a monster day with a goal and three helpers in leading Canada to a 7-3 victory over Slovakia. Today has a couple of huge match ups where Team USA plays Sweden an Pekka Rinne's Fins play the Czech Republic where ex-Pred Marek Zidlichy, of all people, is the team Captain. He never even wore the"A" in Nashville.

Over at the Red Light District, Ryan is putting a cap on the first round and will have his round two picks tomorrow. Jackson may actually be giving his picks to the RLD before me. How does that work? What a turn coat!

Puck the Media breaks down the round two TV schedule several ways. There are three nights where two games are going head to head on May 1, 6, and 8. I can understand the conflicts in the first round but really think they should stagger better in round two.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

First off, major thanks and kudos to @dani3boyz and Love_the_Game for being on the POTG radio show last night. It was really fun to do. Dani had one of those jaw dropping statements in comparing Facebook and Twitter saying something like "Twitter is full of people I want to know going forward, Facebook is people from the past. And I'm all about moving forward." She is a soon to be social media giant and has received tons of encouragement from all around for telling her story on POTG. Chasta was fun to have on as always and we wish her luck tonight in game seven. If you haven't heard the show, go here. You will not be sorry.

The first round of the NHL playoffs are swiftly coming to a conclusion with the Ducks and Hawks moving on and two incredible match ups tonight in game seven contests.

The Chicago Blackhawks went into enemy territory and and came out with a 4-1 game-six win at Calgary. I found it hard to believe that it had been 13 years since the Hawks won a first round series. In spite of all the injuries, I really expected that Calgary would rally at home and push this one to game seven, but the Hawks were far too dominant on Monday night.

The big story of the night had to be Nikolai Khabibulin who lived up to the moniker of the 'Bulin Wall" stopping 43 of 44 shots by a desperate Calgary team. His performance was reminiscent of the dominance that he held over the Flames in the finals in 2004 when he was with the Lightning.

On the other end of the ice, Miikka Kiprusoff was on vacation, comparatively, as Chicago only put 15 shots on his net scoring three times before the empty netter. The Hawks were led in scoring by the unlikely Dustin Byduglien who had a goal and three assists.

The loss ends the season for Calgary which appeared to be built to go deep in the playoffs after the trade deadline acquisition of Olli Jokinen.

The Hawk's victory sets up the match that Jackson and I wanted to see in the first round, with Chicago facing Vancouver. After the last regular season contest which featured a full ice brawl, emotions will run high in the upcoming series. As usual, at this point in the playoffs, goaltending will be the key with Roberto Luongo seemingly being more fresh at this point in the season after taking time off for an injury at midseason.

The late game on Monday was a war. Joe Thornton opened the action by challenging Ryan Getzlaf on the game's opening draw. They obviously do not care for each other. In post game remarks, Getzlaf said that Thornton asked him to go as they approached the circle and since he was going to ask also, he was ready. Thornton seemed to get the best of the fight but lost the war as Getzlaf ended up with a game tying assist on the power play on Corey Perry's goal and then got the empty netter as a final stake in the heart in the closing moments.

Jonas Hiller was the star of the game frustrating the Sharks by stopping 36 of 37 shots. The real story of the series was the inconsistency of the Sharks star players. Thornton basically was a no show for the first three game. Marleau, who has carried the team in past playoffs, was well below expectations and the rest of the team did not play with intensity or consistency that is expected of a President Trophy winning team during the first round of the playoffs.

There appears to be a good chance that the Sharks organization will "blow up" the structure of the current team. After a couple of years of being the preseason team to beat, this postseason is nothing short of a tragedy for the San Jose ownership. The fallout from these playoffs should provide a summer full of Shark watching by fans and the media to see what shakes out.

The Ducks will move on to face the Red Wings in a rivalry that will be fun to watch. Both teams are loaded with weapons on offense and have shut down defenses. The key to watch will be in goal to see if Chris Osgood can continue his playoff success and if Jonas Hiller can continue to be unshaken in his first playoff run.

So, we move on to tonight's games which feature two game sevens. The Caps-Rangers series has had all the media attention while the Devils-Hurricanes series has really flown under the radar of media attention in comparison. I have to believe that the home teams will clinch in both series.

There is little left to be said that hasn't been fully discussed in the Rangers and Caps series. In spite of being down 3-1 at one point, the Caps clearly appeared to be the better team on ice. Henrik Lundqvist is the only reason we are having a game seven in spite of a poor performance on Sunday. He will literally have to stand on his head tonight if the Rangers have a chance to steal this one away in DC.

Conversely, Simeon Varlamov will have to continue to play as he had prior to Sunday's third period. Caps fans had better hope that a couple of weak goals in the third period were a fluke and not an exposed flaw in Varlamov's game. If it turns into a shoot out, the Caps will have the upper hand, but if it stays close, it could go to OT. The Rangers will miss Betts far more than the Caps will miss Brashear. I'm really looking forward to this one.

Sunday night was the first time in the series that I actually saw more than a few minutes of the games involving the Canes and the Devils, and you could barely call it a game as the Devils did not show up ready to play.

I'm picking the Devils in this one based more on reputation and the home advantage more than anything I've seen on the ice. This game is Marty Brodeur's game to win and it all basically falls on his shoulders. If he plays as he is capable, and I am assuming that he will, he should be the difference maker in the game. If he has an off night, then the Hurricanes can win it going away.

I'm ready for the puck drop right now but have plenty of work to do today to keep me distracted until game time.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Happy Monday to everyone! Tonight's PredsOnTheGlass Radio Show should be fun. This week's guests include the lady behind the NHL Tweetups known as @dani3boyz on Twitter and Washington Capital writer for Love The Game and Scarlet Blog, Chasta Piatakovas. Be sure and tune in at 8:00 Eastern/7:00 Central tonight.

I am really interested in speaking with Dani about how the Tweetups got going, hockey in general and her visit last week with Sarah Ferguson (picture here and on Facebook POTG page). Chasta has been our guest before and will be excited about the big game seven between the Caps and Rangers tomorrow night. She always has a keen insight into the Capitals and hockey in general.

I'm a little late on yesterday's wrap-ups but I ran out of gas too early last night.

The Rangers-Capital series has really turned into one for the ages. There is more public bad blood between these two teams than you've seen in all the other first round series put together. You have competition on the Ranger side between Sean Avery and John Tortorella to see who can "out anger" the other one (Avery has one less suspension-so far). On the Washington side you've got an alleged lack of security, Donald Brashear out head-hunting, and allegations of biting. I feel sure game seven will bring even more. Puck Daddy has a good article about this circus.

As far as the hockey action is concerned on the ice, Washington was far better prepared for Sunday's game as they went up 5-1 before they let down during the third period and allowed a couple of goals that Vararmov could have had. Will that be the first sign of a crack in his armor? The Rangers (insert one of many theories or reasons here) seemed to be without life at times which is hard to believe in a home elimination game.

In the evening game, the Devils basically wasted a trip to Carolina as they did absolutely nothing while losing 4-0. This sets up another game seven on Tuesday night. Ward is 2-0 and Brodeur is 5-2 in game sevens in their career.

There was an interesting discussion on The Program last night with guest Shawn Lavigne about how this series has gotten the least amount of attention of all the first round series. This was actually the first one in the series that I had seen more than a few minutes of, primarily because I have had more interest in other games on at the same time.

Tonight's games feature two game six elimination games. The Ducks playing at home in the late game have the best shot at end the series in six unless the Sharks can play a full 60 minute game that they are capable of doing if they return to their mid-season form. In the other game, Calgary is playing at home and will need every ounce of effort that the fans have to offer to help them stave off elimination by the Hawks who clearly outplayed them in game five in Chicago.

Is Pierre McGuire being considered for the Wild job or is this a figment of his imagination? He is the only one I've heard mention it. I had not heard rumor until Pierre himself was talking about what an honor it was to be considered and how much interest he had on XM 204 this AM. He added the disclaimer that he had not been contacted by the Wild which made it seem like more bravado than fact. Fellow HockeyPrimeTime reporter Blake Benzel advises me that he is on a "short list" but Leipold hasn't contacted too many people yet.

Donald Brashear got a six game suspension for his actions in Sunday's game. One game was for the pre-game activity and five was for the hit on Blair Betts that broke a face bone and probably ended his season. That is a lot more than the 1-2 games that I expected. Phil Esposito on XM204 danced around this one saying it was bad that he did it but accomplished getting the best penalty killer and face off man out of game seven. Nothing like an old time hockey perspective.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

What a day of playoff action where one team moved on, one went home and four others will have to battle again on Monday night.

Saturday's action got off to quick start on NBC with the Flyers jumping out to a 3-0 lead in an oranged-out arena. Immediately after the third goal Max Talbot lured Daniel Carcillo into a fight and took a severe beating. Fourteen seconds later the Pens scored and another scuffle ensued. From then on, it was all Pens as they scored four unanswered goals including the game tieing goal and the empty net goal by Sidney Crosby.

For me, one the highlights of the game was to hear the entire arena chanting "Crosby Sucks" for the better part of the game. They must have made him made because the only thing he sucked was the life out of the entire arena and the Flyers. I was hoping this one would go seven games but the Flyers didn't have it in them.

The Flames and Hawks game was the first real blow out of the series. The Hawks went up 3-0 before the Flames scored. Three and a half minutes later, the Hawks scored again and chased Kiprusoff who was not happy as he actually left the bench and headed to the locker room. The Flames even wasted a opportunity on a five on three power play in the third period. The game never lost its physical nature right up to the end. These teams really do not like each other. After the 5-1 loss for the Flames, they head back home where they will face elimination if the effort doesn't improve.

Facing elimination, the Sharks that were waiting for Anaheim in San Jose did not appear to be the same listless team that played Thursday night. Joe Thornton who went missing in the last game also looked like a different player right from the start. Much was written after the last game that his performance tonight may determine his future with the Sharks. After some early verbal sparring with Ryan Getzlaf, Thornton lured Getzlaf into a penalty and then scored on the power play for his first goal of the series. Late in the second period Devin Setoguchi scored his first goal of the series. After a post goal scuffle the Ducks had a chace to counter but failed.

The third period was a different game. The Ducks scored twice in the first five minutes to tie the game. San Jose apeared to have lost the confidence they had earlier in the game. Joe Thornton hit the post with about six minutes left on a shot that could have put the Sharks ahead. Both teams played at a frenetic pace in the closing minutes but neither could finish it so they headed for overtime. The shot count was 41-22 in favor of the Sharks at the end of regulation.

Overtime started at a fast pace and ended quickly on a goal by Patrick Marleau 6:02 into the extra perion. The Ducks tried to disput the goal but will have to return to Anaheim for game six on Monday. This game had more of a look of what everyone expected before the series started.

News came during the Calgary-Chicago game that John Tortorella will be suspended for Sunday's game. Good Call Gary Bettman! (Some of the following links were before this announcement but are still interesting.) This will add to the already intense rivalry that will be on display in the NBC afternoon game where the Caps are in a win or start the Summer vacation situation.

The other game on Sunday will have Carolina facing elimination at home against the Devils. Marty Brodeur played his best game in game five so it will be interesting to see if he will continue on the road and be able to finish off the Hurricanes.

Newsday reports that Torts will be coaching Sunday and he continued not to comment as he claims he was instructed not to. Note that coaches are disciplined by Garry Bettman himself and not Colin Campbell.

A group of Ducks fans caravaned from Anaheim to San Jose today in a logo painted Ducks vehicle and blogged along the way.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Ranger coach John Tortorella decided to scratch trouble-maker Sean Avery for game five of the Caps-Rangers series because of undisciplined play in the last couple of games. So with Avery out of the spotlight, Tortorella took over as the center attraction in the three ring circus currently touring under the name of the New York Rangers.

During a TV break, Tortorella got into a war of words with a fan and security was called in. At some point Tortorella got wet. Initially it was reported as a beer being thrown by a fan on Torts. Later the discussion turned toward the possibility that Torts actually threw a water bottle at the fan. By the time the video cameras got rolling Torts had a stick and was ready to head over the glass. Regardless of how it happened, Tororella will have a difficult time explaining to Sean Avery why Avery's stupid play on the ice is worse than Tort's stupid play on the bench.

Tororella confronts fan with a stick

To me, this seems like a situation worthy of review by Colin Campbell and the other honchos in the NHL home office. Torts needs some of that anger management rehab that Avery went to. Do you think they do it like AA... "My name is John and I have anger management issues." Since Sean has been through the program maybe he could sponsor Tortorella.

Another video appears to show Tortorella throwing something at the crowd

The anger didn't get any better in the televised Tortorella post game interview. When he went to the podium he said, "No questions? Then ask the damn things. I'm not going to stand up here and look at you." I guess the reporters were in fear of an outburst. Later when asked about the fan incident Torts snapped, "Ask me a question about the game." When the reporter followed with a question about throwing a water bottle, the Ranger handler stepped in and said something along the lines of another question like that and we'll end it now.

Edited version of Tortorella Post Game Presser

In the midst of all this, there was an incredibly good Washington Capitols team that blew the Rangers off the ice in a 4-0 thrashing anchored by Simeon Varlamov's second shutout in the last four games. Matt Bradley got the ball rolling scoring two goals in the first period to get the ball rolling. The amazing feat performed by Alexander Ovechkin in another highlight reel goal was hard to believe.

Ovechkin's Highlight Reel Goal

All this excitement should help NBC recover from not being able to show the poker tournament that they had lined up for Sunday afternoon's hockey broadcast time slot had the Caps-Rangers series ended Friday night. I, for one, can't wait to see what happens with the game and the whole Torts-Avery situation when they return to the ice for game six.

I heard that there are multiple filings of missing person reports for the San Jose Shark's Joe Thornton. Minus 3 and 4 shots on goal, non of which came close last night. Coach Todd McLellan called the loss"a disappointment".

I still feel bad for Columbus and their fans. I'm sure they woke up this AM and wondered which train hit them. Steve Mason was a very un-Calder Trophy-ish 0-4, .878 Save %, and 4.27 GAA. Mason ranks last of all playoff goalies in most categories. Here is a video of the "picky" call (at about 2:05 into the vid) that doomed the Jackets in game 4. CBJ fans need to focus more on games 1, 2 & 3 and less on the call that finally put them out of their misery. Will this devastating loss send the Blue Jackets the way of the Atlanta Thrashers or will they learn from the thrashing at the hands of the Red Wings.

Can you guess who is #1 in GAA? answer below...

Rant! The NFL may allow CBS to stream next years Super Bowl online. The NHL needs to find a way to give fans a way to watch every game online (legally). All the time and effort they have spent chasing ATDHE, MyP2P, Justin and others should be focused on efforts to get all the games into the hands of hockey starved fans. There is a growing number of folks (especially in the NHL's target demographics) that do not have cable or satellite TV and are forced to go to pirated broadcasts of their home team's games due to NHL blackout restrictions. This is 2009 and rules made during the dark ages of the internet need to be updated.

The Lady Byng Memorial Trophy finalist announcement will come at 11:00 today on NHL Live. Pavel Datsyuk has won the last three years and nothing has changes so I bet he is top three again. I will wager that no Predator will make the top 3.

I didn't hear anything about the Pizza Party at the Sommet last night. Any insight as to what happened ?

Puck Daddy reports Playoff ticket sales problems in Anaheim and Carolina. "The first indications for us as to what next year will look like, and if you're looking for indications as well, keep an eye on playoff ticket sales. That will be the first indication as to what we can expect going into the future and the impact of what the economy is having now." - Gary Bettman, January 2009

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Thursday night produced another evening of top quality first round NHL action with two excellent finishes and one more team eliminated.

The best game of the evening was the Blue Jackets last stand against the Red Wings. After going quietly for three games, the Jackets fought hard coming back twice from two goal deficits. With the game tied 5-5 and 1:34 remaining, Columbus was called for too many men on the ice in what Ken Hitchcock and a whole building full of BJ fans thought was a "picky call". As you would expect it took less tan a minute for Johan Franzen to score on the power play to give the Wings the lead and the win. It was a shame that the Jackets lost on a questionable call but the reality was that they didn't show up for the prior three games, so you can't blame the whole series on one call. I was disappointed that the Blue Jackets did not have a better showing in their first playoff experience. The Wings win made them the first defending Stanley Cup champion to win a series since 2002.

My keen interest in the Wings-Jackets game meant that I saw nothing but highlights from the Flyers-Pens game but I was pleased that it extended the series to Game 6 so that there will be an NBC game on Saturday. The Flyers will face elimination once again but this time it will be on home ice.

The end of the Carolina-New Jersey game was another one that went to the final buzzer with Marty Brodeur and the Devils reclaiming the home ice advantage with their best play of the series. They will play again on Sunday with Carolina facing elimination on their home ice.

The Ducks-Sharks game had plenty of action both on and off the ice as there was a 4.0 earthquake between the first and second period. The game as also disrupted for 17 minutes halfway through the second period for a broken sheet of glass that separated the two benches. On the ice, it was the Bobby Ryan show, with the potential Calder Trophy winner getting the games first two goals. Corey Perry added an insurance goal in the third to seal the deal for the Ducks and give them a surprising 3-1 series lead. Drew Miller added an empty netter and Jonas Hiller held on for the 4-0 shutout. Of course, all know that I loved the scuffle at the end of the game. The Sharks will have to win three in a row to advance starting Saturday in San Jose.

There is only one game on the docket for tonight when the Rangers travel to Washington to try to finish off the Caps and move to round two, The Caps have out-shot the Rangers 149-99 and outscored them 8-7 but still trail 3-1 in the series. Henrik Lundqvist has been the difference maker for the Rangers. The big point of discussion on the off day was whether Coach John Tortorella would bench Sean Avery since he appears to have fallen of the wagon from his anger management rehabilitation in the last two games, with the worst offense putting the Caps on the power play in the closing minutes of Wednesday's 2-1 breathtaking finish. I can't imagine that Torts would bench him, but he probably will not put him on the ice at the end of a close contest any time soon.

It has been a different situation for Preds fans to be on the sidelines watching in the first round for the first time since 2003, but it has been fun to sit back and watch hockey without the pressure of having a dog in the hunt. The fact that there have been great games every night has been some consolation too.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

First off, our thoughts and prayers go to Eklund and his family on the unexpected passing of his father yesterday. He is with his mother and will make arrangements today. Please keep them lifted up during a tough time in their lives.

------------------------------------------------------------------Wednesday nights offerings couldn't match Tuesday's action but did give us great games in two of the three played.

The dud of the night, not surprisingly, was the Bruins finishing off the Habs by a score of 4-1. The Hab's Andrei Kostitsyn scored 39 seconds into the game for the only highlight of the night for Montreal. The sweep broke a ten year run of failing to get past the opening round for the Bruins and will give them several days to relax before the second round. Congrats to all the Boston fans who are thrilled to death to have a legitimate shot at the finals.

The game between the Rangers and Caps was basically the Henrik Lundqvist show as King Henry stopped 38 of 39 shots in route to a 2-1 Ranger win which gave them a 3-1 series lead. The game was not decided until the final horn sounded as Sean Avery put the Caps on the power play on a really stupid penalty with three minutes remaining. The Caps could not convert on the PP or the goalie pull and the Rangers held on for the win. The Caps now face elimination when they return home for game six. Caps goalie Simeon Varlamov has done everything and more that could be expected of him but the Cap's simply have been unable to put the puck in the net. Not unexpectedly, the big topic this AM is Sean Avery and his lack of discipline.

The Hawks-Flames series continued to be the most exciting of the bunch as it also came down to the final horn with Calgary holding on for a wild 6-4 victory to even the series 2-2. As has been the case in every game, the team that scored first lost. With the Hawks up 1-0, Calgary scored four unanswered goals before the Hawks came back with three to tie it 4-4. Eric Nystrom put the Flames ahead with seven minutes left and Jarome Iginla finished the game with an empty netter. Nystrom also had two assists and Iginla had the Flames first goal a minute after Chicago took the early lead. Kris Versteeg celebrated his Calder final three nomination with a goal and two assists for the Hawks.

Tonight's action has two teams facing elimination as Detroit leads Columbus 3-0 and the Penguins lead the Flyers 3-1. Carolina and New Jersey head back north for game five in a series tied 2-2. The Ducks also hope to recover from Tuesday's home loss to the Sharks in a series that they lead 2-1. For the best playoff coverage and insight anywhere, head over to the Red Light District.

After Pekka got shut out on the Calder Trophy final three yesterday, there is no reason to even discuss Shea Weber in the same sentence as Norris Trophy which will have the final three announced at 11 central today. My bet is Chara, Green and Lidstrom. We will see soon. The lack of Pekka in the top three is a good reminder to Pred fans of where we, as an organization, stand in the eyes of the national MSM.

John Glennon writes about how the World Championships can be a tryout for next year's Olympic teams. While it's fun to see the Pred players in the Olympics, it is a distraction and does take its toll on the players involved right in the middle of the playoff chase. In the past, it has not been much of a problem, but next year may be different with a higher level of talent on the Preds.

Dirk, the Forechecker, provided interesting sideline entertainment last night with Tweets from the Yanni concert, details here. I used to like Yanni but this Voices thing really ruins it for me. Chris over at The Program should take a lesson from Dirk, and take sweet wife Dawn to a Yanni concert to put an end to the daily bed or couch debacle once and for all.

Mirtle has an article about money problems in the KHL. Maybe this will be the excuse for Rads to return to the Preds without being crucified in the home country.

Puck Daddy reports that movie man and Devils fan Kevin Smith is moving his playoff commentary from the NHL.com site to a less family friendly Silent Bob Speaks. Smith reports that there was too much editing and rewrites involved with the league site.

As expected, Norris finalist are Lidstrom, Green and Chara. I'm trying to figure out the politics of who will win. I'd say its good the voting was before Green went missing in the playoffs, Lidstrom maybe in by reputation, but I bet Chara gets it due to all the MSM props this year and Boston winning the East. John Glennon argues that Shea Weber should have been close, but after the way Pekka was treated, I'm starting to wonder if Sully will make the top three for Masterton.

This should get the controversy started. Andre Roy is suspened for one game due to contact with Aaron Johnson during warm ups last night. After no action on Burish previously, the Flames fans will be hot!

Last night's set of games will be hard to top but there are three more games on tap this evening. Boston can become the second team to sweep with a win at Montreal. The Caps will try to even their series with another win in New York and in what has become the hardest fought series of the bunch, Calgary will try to even it's series with Chicago in the simi-late game.

In spite of Marc-Andre Fleury stopping 45 of 46 shots against the Flyers, I still would not want my team's hopes resting on him. Same for Steve Mason who has looked average for three games in a row with a cumulative 3.67 GAA. Give me Pekka any day in a big game.

Interesting that Dominik Hasek has spent a year recovering from the Predators blistering him in last year's opening round playoff series to now come full circle and play for his original team in the Czech Republic in hopes of a return to the olympics next year.

Starting today, and for the next eight weekdays, at 11:00 AM Central, an announcement will be made for the three finalist in each Award category that is not based on statistics. I predict that today's Calder Trophy nomination will include Steve Mason, Bobby Ryan and either Pekka or Kris Versteeg. I say it's 60-40 between those two with Versteeg having the edge due to media bias toward the larger market and the fact that they don't want two goaltenders in the finals. I hope I'm wrong.

Off topic... One of my more interesting Earth Day memories was about seven or eight years ago when I took Fisher and Jackson out to pick up trash along the main drag through McKay's Mill in Franklin, where we were living at the time. We recovered about four of five good sized garbage bags full of trash, bottles and cans, and other general roadside debris from an area along a half-mile stretch of road that was recently opened for new home construction . We took the bags to a construction dumpster for Newmark Homes. After putting the bags into the dumpster, all of a sudden a beady-eyed three-pieced suited reincarnation of Satan himself came flying out of the model home and was ready to have us arrested for basically picking up trash from the entrance to "his development" and putting it in "his dumpster". We could have redeposited it along "his roadway" but then he would have had us arrested for littering. What a great lesson for the kids! Try to do something earth-friendly and an idiot has to be a jerk about it. It just goes to prove that if you give people a hundred dollar bill, most will complain that it's not five twentys.

From Ailyn at Big Hair Hockey Show - Confirming Blogtalkradio guest for Sunday's show at 2pm; Dave Hanson from Slap Shot. http://slapshotoriginal.com

The Predators have set up a World Championship page to track all 8 Preds and prospects playing the the tournament. They also include Alexander Radulov as a "prospect" and defenseman Roman Josi from Switzerland.

From the Milwaukee Admirals, "Milwaukee Admirals President Jon Greenberg announced today that the team’s first two games of the West Division Finals be on Thursday, April 30th at 7:00 pm and on Saturday, May 2nd at 7:00 pm. Tickets for those games will go on sale on Thursday, April 23rd at 9:00 am."

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

What a night of hockey! This was the kind of evening that only the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs can produce. Heading into the evening, I was a little put out that there were five games with four starting within an hour but it all seemed to work out with a series of great finishes.

The only real dud game was the Wings playing at Columbus which was the one game I had become emotionally involved with. I was really excited for the Columbus fans and their first home playoff game and really expected that they would win. Unfortunately, Tomas Holmstrom quelled the crowd 1:07 into the game and it was all Red Wings from then on. The fans did get a reason to celebrate when R J Umberger scored on the power play at the end of the game. Osgood has been stellar for the whole series, while Calder shoe-in Steve Mason has had his worst run of the season.

The Flyers-Pens game was tightly contested from start to finish. After Dan Carcillo scored to bring the Flyers within one with less than 10 minutes left, he did his best to rally the already frenetic Philly crowd but was unable to inspire his teammates to follow through on their end. The Flyers will have their work cut out for them as they head to Pittsburgh and face elimination games from here on out.

I saw very little of the Devils-Canes game but did catch the end. What an incredible finish with Carolina winning with less than a second left. Marty Brodeur was not happy with the finish and let things fly. I love seeing that much emotion. So now it's tied 2-2 and headed back to Jersey. This one has seven games written all over it.

After being completely dominated by Vancouver for three games, St Louis played a really strong, physical game to take the Canucks to the end of the second overtime before losing on an Alex Burrows rush. Jackson called the winning goal by Burrows, one of his favorite players when the game went into OT. This was the first sweep in franchise history for the Nooks, who will have up to ten days to recover before they play a second round game.

San Jose finally acted like they wanted to extend their season playing in Anaheim. after forgetting to show up in their two home games. Through two periods the two teams traded goals with San Jose never falling behind. Patrick Marleau put the Sharks ahead on the power play halfway through the third period and the Sharks held on for the win. This has been a really odd series with the road team winning each game. It looks to be a long series.

Vancouver was not the only team to complete a sweep on Tuesday night as the Milwaukee Admirals finished off the Rockford Icehogs with 4-1 to advance to round two of the AHL Playoffs. Mike Santorelli had a hat trick and Jed Ortmeyer added a goal and three assists to lead the Ads to victory. Ryan Jones also had two helpers playing on the line with Santorelli and Ortmeyer which was a combined +12 on the evening. Drew MacIntyre stopped 25 of 26 in the game and 105 of 109 in the series allowing a single goal in each game.

Tonight's action will be hard to match but we will will take each night as it comes, on to night 8 of the playoffs on Wednesday night.

Monday, April 20, 2009

We are probably close to halfway through all the games that will eventually be played in the first round. I was unable to see much of the two early games due to PredsOnTheGlass Radio on Monday night, but the results were not surprising.

I expected the Habs to show more life and actually win a game at home, but now they clearly are facing elimination to bring the 100th anniversary season to a close.

Calgary finally made Chicago come back to earth and gave an indication that this could go six or seven games. I still think the Hawks will advance but it won't be in five games. It was a rough and tumble contest of who could out hit who down to the final horn. This could end up being a classic 4-5 seed series that we would love to watch. There was enough bad blood in the last minute to carry through the rest of the series.

We would like to thank our guests from last nights podcast, Ryan from the Red Light District, Dirk Hoag, the Forechecker, from OnTheForcheck.com, and Eric Smith, Hockey Buzz's Columbus writer. Ryan and Dirk are well known in these parts but Eric's introduction to our area was a real treat for anyone wanting to know about the Blue Jackets, past, present and future. Thanks to all three for an excellent hour of hockey insight and conversation.

My favorite Tweeter @janeqpublic says I'm only going to Calgary with @newpowersoul if we can call it "Cal-Gary." And we will also have to talk smack about "Dee-Troy-It." (Tribute to Crispy) There nothing like a Nashville girl talking Canadian!

This afternoon John Glennon rehashes what David Poile discussed last week about Sully wanting to stay here but wants to establish his market value. Jackson has a story started on this but I don't think Sully will be back. In his situation, he has to make every penny he can in as long a guaranteed contract as he can get in order to protect his family and future financial security. Are the Predators going to pay the highest price? Not in a million years. There's always someone out there in the free agent market willing to pay more or give a year more guaranteed. If this isn't resolved long before July 1st Sully will be playing for a top contending team come October.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Tonight's edition of PredsOnTheGlass Radio returns to the home couch, hopefully away from the technical difficulties we had at our first live remote at the Nashville Tweetup last Wednesday. We had a blast and are ready to do it again with a little different preparations. Be sure and tune in tonight at 7:00 Central.

Tonight's show will feature Ryan from the Red Light District again to talk about the playoffs. His ongoing daily analysis of the match-ups is first rate. No one else does it better,

Finally, we will have Eric Smith, Hockey Buzz's Columbus writer, on the show. I'm looking forward to hearing about the Jacket's first trip to the playoffs from an insider's viewpoint. I've been seeing Tweets from him at the morning skate so we will get the latest on the BJ's comback versus the Wings.

We will also keep you updated on the Boston at Montreal and Washington at New York games in progress.

A rather interesting look at Nashville through pictures is here under Hockey Road Trip 09. This gem was noted by Mark at The View from 111 and is from the photographer that accompanied James Mirtle on his trip to Nashville.

Can't let a day go by without a Twitter story. Here's a few MSM folks monikers per Alanah at Canucks and Beyond.

Puck Daddy takes a look at the Flyers unofficial playoff song. It doesn't do a lot for me but it's not nears as bad as the Predators version of "My Town" video from a couple of years ago. I think it was a big reason that we bailed early that year.

The Flyers-Pens series did a 180 degree turn today as it moved to Philadelphia for game four. The Flyers and their fans were on top of their game and Pittsburgh was off their game primarily due to less than stellar goalkeeping by Marc-Andre Fleury. Claude Giroux really had a good game winning first star honors. I loved the way the Flyers were physical and never backed down in spite of too much time in the box in the first two games. Philadelphia appears to be back in this one and will force it to six or seven.

The Blues started strong but succumbed to a much stronger Vancouver team and appear dead in the water with a good chance of being swept. That was a really odd penalty in the last few seconds of the game especially with the slashing in front of the net at the same time. So far in the playoffs Detroit and Vancouver have been the two most dominating teams. Boston is probably there with them but I have yet to see very much of their games.

New Jersey pulled off the miracle they needed to regain home advantage in overcoming the Hurricanes in OT. The TSN commentators were making a big deal about the fact that Marty Brodeur had never won an overtime game against Carolina and that another OT loss by Marty would give him the all-time record for OT playoff losses. Glad to see that Marty avoided that record for the time being.

The Milwaukee Admirals extended their series lead to 3-0 over Rockford with their third 3-1 win in a row. Ads goals were scored by Andreas Thuresson and Ryan Jones. Cal O'Reilly had two assists. Drew MacIntyre had another excellent night in goal. The Ads will try to finish off the sweep Tuesday at Rockford.

Here's a better wrap-up of game two than the one I posted last night from game 2 of the Admiral's playoff series with Rockford. Lost in the shuffle this weekend was the article that Preds other first round draft pick of 2008, Chet Picard, was joining Milwaukee for the rest of their playtoff run. The Preds will have a crowed goalie situation in the unlikely event that they resign Drew MacIntyre. Big Drew will probably go to camp with some other NHL team next year to compete for a backup slot.

Earlier today John Glennon at the Tennessean gave his year end analysis of the Preds. I don't disagree with much of what John wrote except I don't know how he picked Shea Weber over Pekka Rinne as MVP. Without Pekka in net, the season would have been over on New Year's Day. The Forechecker also commented. I stongly agree with Dirk that the game against Vancouver was a turning point in the season with Nichol being out for months and J P in a haze for an extended period.

Finally, I didn't forget about the Sharks-Ducks but with the score tied 1-1 at the end of the second period, I am retiring from writing foe the evening. As they say in the standings in the newspaper, late games not included.

Update: These playoffs keep getting stranger as the Jonas Hiller led Ducks hung on for a 3-2 victory over the Sharks. Hiller made 42 saves as he really stoned the Sharks for their second victory in a row at San Jose. San Jose has never come back from an 0-2 deficit in the playoffs to win a series so history will have to be made for them to advance. I guess I will have to move the Ducks into the top four teams in the playoffs with the afore mentioned Wings, Nooks, and Bruins.

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